KftPOTiPRted 



THE GEEY MULLET. 



Mullets, unlike the rest, are just and mild, 



No fish they harm, by them no seas are spoiled ; 



Not on their own nor different kinds they prey, 



But equal laws of common right obey. 



Undreaded they with guiltless pleasure feed 



On fattening slime, or bite the seagrown weed.— Oppiax. 



HIS fish (Mu- 

 gil capito) is 



one of the 

 best I know 

 for a marine 

 aquarium, as it 

 does not hide, 

 but swims all 

 day in the open water, and 

 besides being very Lardy, it is 

 of graceful shape, and of a 

 silvery gleaming hue, prettily 

 marked on the sides with nu- 

 merous dark parallel bands, 

 running lengthwise. I have 

 about thirty-five or forty of 

 these mullets, each measuring 

 from two to three inches long, 

 in a tank containing 300gallons 

 of water, and having a surface 

 exposure to the atmosphere of twenty square feet. 

 Through this tank runs a stream of sea-water, 

 varying from 100 to 500 gallons per twenty-four 

 hours, the current being always much increased 

 immediately after feeding, to carry off the turbidity 

 caused by the presence of food. Mr. Gosse, in his 

 book, " The Aquarium," 2nd edition, 1S56, pp. 102 

 — 104, describes half a dozen little mullets which 

 he kept at Weymouth in 1S53, and says they swam 

 in a shoal in his tank. They do the same here, and 

 sometimes, when quite undisturbed, and not feeding, 

 they form a compact little wedge-shaped phalanx, 

 with their noses all pointed one way, and their 

 bodies precisely parallel with each other, and using 

 their fins only just enough to keep themselves 

 together, and in one spot. At other times the 

 group will be equally compact, but their bodies will 

 be placed at various angles relatively to one another. 

 It is very curious to see them form themselves into 

 a party, and set off on an exploring expedition. 

 No. 19. 



They commence on a certain part of the rockwork, 

 generally on the portion most exposed to light 

 (because, it may be inferred, there are more of 

 minute animals concealed among the more luxuriant 

 vegetable growths on those spots), and then they 

 will regularly work this district for hours together, 

 by most industriously and rapidly picking off from 

 the rocks, and devouring whatever may be upon 

 them. I am not sure what this food is, as a scraping 

 from the rocks submitted to the microscope gives 

 a variety of infusoria and minute alga?, and I 

 believe that the mullet eat both of them ; at any 

 rate, in a natural state they take both animal and 

 vegetable food. Occasionally the exploring party 

 will form themselves into two groups, one group 

 taking one end of the tank, and the other lot the 

 other end, and then they will eat their way along 

 till the two groups combine. Their extreme earnest- 

 ness is remarkable, for in their search for food in 

 awkward crannies, they will, in order to get at what 

 they want, place themselves in all manner of queer 

 positions. And all the time their tails are kept 

 wagging with much rapidity, so that their noses 

 may be maintained close up to the rock at which 

 they are nibbling. Occasionally I give them the 

 raw flesh of a newly-killed crab— either the shore- 

 crab (Carchws matnas), or else the edible crab {Can- 

 cer pagurus), of both of which they are very fond. 

 When the body of the crab is first thrown into the 

 tank, it usually remains on the sand at the bottom 

 for some minutes uuperceived by the mullet, but it 

 is instantly discovered by some of the other animals, 

 who begin to pull it about, and thus the smell is 

 gradually communicated to the mullet, and there- 

 upon one or two of them leave the main body and 

 find out the dead crab. Presently, more arrive, and 

 in a little time the shoal is scattered all over the 

 tank, till after a while they re-unite by dropping in 

 to the feast, one or two at a time, and in a very 

 short period they densely surround the crab, eating 



H 



